One thing I’m noticing this year is the abundance of stash-and-hope RBs this year, so while this is all covered on the site, here’s a very quick look at the best ones. These are mostly non-obvious one, so please don’t ask why I didn’t include McCoy, Mendenhall, etc.

Bernard Scott, Cin – Again, I like him a lot. He’s very talented, and Cedric Benson is no gemstone.

Danny Ware, NYG – Really impressed with his receiving ability, which bodes very well for him. If Brandon Jacobs goes down, Ware’s going to play a lot. I still like Ahmad Bradshaw more, but Ware will play a lot.

James Davis, Cle – Again, he’s looked much better than expected, and Jamal Lewis is close to being eligible for carbon dating.

Glen Coffee, SF – If Frank Gore is out, it’s 20 carries a game for Coffee if at all possible. Since he’s looked better than expected, that has to result in good production.

Mike Goodson, Car – I gotta tell you: this guy’s really good. He’s got excellent quickness and speed, and he’s had some huge holes this summer. If one or both of the top two guys are out, Goodson’s a major sleeper.

19 Responses

John,
Is it worthwhile to stash and hope on any QB’s this year? Not sure if anyone was smart enough to draft Matt Cassel last year and stash him away. If they did, it sure paid off. Here’s 3 QB’s that come to mind that may be worth taking a last round flyer on.

Just got finished my keeper draft as defending champ (keeping forte/turner/fitzgerald, giving up picks for them in rounds 4/16/3). My draft went tremendously well thanks to your columns and advice over the past few weeks on who to target/vibes, etc. I came away with felix jones/hester/mcgahee/steven smith/bowe/witten/westbrook/a.bradshaw/c.palmer/hasselbeck/kevin jones!!! Almost everyone I targeted fell to me at a good value, considering all teams forfeited the 3 rounds that corresponded to their keeper player draft position. I saw all kinds of reaches and miscalculations by others in this very intense generally knowledgeable league and I certainly have this site to thank for it. I won the league last year with the help/advice of this site, and hopefully with this promising team I can defend my title! Thanks John!

Also just a quick note to add an interesting twist to a fantasy league. We have started one this season that has 6 of us managing 2 teams each, one NFC team and one AFC team. The teams compete in their respective conferences and playoffs and meet in a super bowl. It is AMAZING when you hold an AFC draft and an NFC draft separately how lopsided the talent is in rb and wr toward the NFC! It really makes for some interesting draft strategy. Have you ever heard of or played in a league like this in such a format?

John — thanks for all the great content. Not to pester, but any thoughts on what the keeper list will be updated again? That list is a goldmine and it would be great to get an update this week. Thanks.

I would really like to be in the 12 team PPR mock draft scheduled for 9/2 but don’t how to send a PM. I would like to draft second, I have a WCOFF draft next week! My e-mail is [email protected]. Thanks!!!

I’m obviously worried about my #2 WR with Marshall. Is there one up & coming waiver wire talent at WR that you would feel comfortable dropping a J. Jones for. Like an Earl Bennett. Someone you feel will expload onto the scene or reignite his career like a Nate Burelson, Steve Smith (NY) or Justin Gage are all available. Or do you think J. Morgan is my best bet to become a #2 talent in that kind of role?

I think I drafted too many stash and hope or RBBC guys (10 teams), but that was my strategy this year at RB. It’s a “value” keeper league (that’s what I have coined a league where you give up certain picks for players based on previous drafts. Please let me know if there is a better term for this.) where I kept P.Thomas(in 8) and Welker(in 11). I could have kept Ward in the 7th too, but I really decided to target other RBBC or stash and hope guys as Ward really is getting shaky vibes. I drew the 4th pick. My RBs are:
S.Jackson, P. Thomas, J.Stewart, D.Brown, A.Bradshaw, L.Washington, W.McGahee, B.Scott, J.Davis. Now I don’t know who to drop to get though the bye weeks at the QB, TE, K, and DST positions? Guess I’ll wait and see what happens in the next few weeks…injuries, etc.

QB Strategy was grab one of the top 3, because 5 teams were keeping 6 highly rated QBs. I really was hoping to take one of the top 3 in the 3rd or 4th, preferably Brees or Manning. One guy in our league kept Rivers, but drafted Brees in the 1st because he forgot he had kept Rivers. When everyone made fun of him, he drafted T.Brady in the 2nd just to spite everyone. So, I grabbed Manning earlier than I wanted (2nd round) just to get a lock at that position so that I could focus on the RB and WR draft picks.

I believe this actually gave me a competitive advantage over the other 5 teams without a QB yet. They all followed suit and drafted QBs earlier than they should have. Romo went the 3rd. McNabb went in the 6th which is a good value, but that started another run on the remaining QBs. Palmer in the 6th and Eli in the 7th. All other better QBs were keepers. While other teams were drafting their back-ups way too early as well, I kept picking RBs and WRs. It left me short on a back-up QB, but with P.Manning hopefully I won’t need one other than the bye week. (I had LT, Brady and Ocho last year as my first 3 picks, so I figure I’m due for some better luck this year.)

TE Strategy was to grab T.Gonz in the 5th or wait much later. I had pre-designated the 6th and 7th rounds to grabbing RBBC or Stash and Hope RBs which also make great Keepers for next year. Witten was someone’s keeper; Gates went in the 3rd; Clark went before me in the 5th, so I took T.Gonz as planned in the 5th. Probably too early for him, but he has looked great in the pre-season. I am hoping Ryan finds him a very reliable veteran receiver, especially in the red zone.

WR1, WR2, WR3 Strategy – Keeping Welker in the 11th allowed me to grab two WRs in the 3rd and 4th rounds and wait. There were only a few RBs that I liked in the 3rd and 4th rounds, so focused on WRs. Got Colston in the 3rd and Bowe in the 4th. Not a bad 3-some, but could be better.

WR4+ Strategy – Use the Guru’s input on grabbing a couple “Gems” late in the draft starting in the 12 round after being skipped for my 11th round keeper pick. D.Mason was slipping in the draft. I noticed his ADP was near the 12th round. So I got lucky and he fell to me in the 12th. Also, I took the opportunity to draft S.Smith(NYG) in the 13th.

I am already trying to TRADE Stewart for McNabb to the guy who has D.Williams to solidify (like in concrete) my QB position, and/or another trade S.Jackson & W.Welker for MJD & D.Driver. These might not get accepted, but I’ll keep working it.

Thanks John, Adam, Greg, Matt, and others!

I’ll probably pick up Gado in a couple weeks as well if it looks like I’ll be keeping S.Jackson.

Hey John –
1 draft down (and it went great thanks to your draft plan), 1 to go. Where should I look for some updated Def team info (onsite or offsite)? Dteam counts a lot in this long-time keeper league as we lose points for yards (-1/25) and points (-1/3) and since we carry rosters of 20 (I know, been trying for years to reduce that), almost all Ds get drafted. Thanks!